Founder of the Three Things Method of Storytelling, Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene

Three Things Fire Rooster

2017 Is a Fire Rooster Year

Vogue, July 1918

My post for the calendar New Year was about “animalizing” your writing (that post is here). As most of you know, the Chinese zodiac is a cycle of 12 animal signs. Each year is represented by an animal. So I thought it would be fun to mention the Chinese New Year as a follow-on for my Is Your Writing Beastly? post.

If 2016 monkeyed around with your life, remember what mischievous animal embodied that year. However, it is advised that we embrace opportunities and navigate challenges in 2017. That doesn’t sound like much of a reprieve to me. Already I’m navigating way too many challenges… Okay — I will try to be positive.

(Yes, I know that’s a fish in the picture, but it’s a fiery color.) I had to investigate why this year’s rooster was called a Fire Rooster. InChinese element theory, each zodiac year is also associated with one of five elements: Gold (Metal), Wood, Water, Fire, or Earth. So to include both the animal cycle and the element cycle, a Fire Rooster, for example, comes once every 60-years. The last Fire Rooster year was 1957. Before that, I believe it was 1897.

So in theory, 2017 and persons born in a Fire Rooster year would have characteristics decided by their birth year’s zodiac sign and element. Anyway, now we have a fire rooster ready to pick up where the monkey left off.

So now I challenge you — put your fingers on your keyboard and just write anything, as if you were writing an article or a story. Write until you’ve mentioned the three things I’m about to give you. Then leave it in a comment here, or a link to your own blog. Ready? Here’s your things:

Fire, Rooster, Calendar

Okay, okay… I hear you. I know it’s not fair unless I play too. So here goes… Off the top of my head, here’s something from the “Pip universe.”

Pip’s a Chicken

“Bock, bock-bock. Bock! Baaawk!”

Of all the nerve! My mouth dropped open. I was speechless. Granny Phanny bocked at me like a chicken. She bocked. She put her fists under her armpits and flapped her boney elbows — and she bocked at me!

Then, to make matters worse, she laughed.

Why that banty old woman. Of all the self-important, cockalorem…

“Oh Pip, if you could see the look on your face,” she said, still chuckling. “It’s not like you to chicken out. Now tie on your apron and we’ll look at this recipe together.”

Granny hung an apron around my neck, and then put her hands on my shoulders to forcibly turn me around. She tied a bow in back that I knew without looking was perfectly symmetrical.

“But Granny, I nearly set the kitchen on fire last time,” I complained, sincerely afraid of what damage I might cause.

“Hush that nonsense right now, Sweetpea. We’ll not be having any fires. Just because your fried chicken turned out as tough as an old rooster doesn’t mean you can quit.”

“An old rooster?” I exclaimed, mortified.

I looked at the recipe card. “Chicken Fricassee…” I read aloud. “Dredge chicken pieces in the flour mixture; coat well. Oh Granny, this sounds pos-i-lutely like a repeat of the fried chicken disaster. Granny?”

Phanny Ilene Peabody was gone. Her purse was missing from the corner table. I called out again and she hollered from the living room.

My eyes fell on the calendar that hung on the wall. Wong’s Chinese Restaurant made one annually for Chinese New Year. Granny was going to an early dinner with friends. No wonder she wasn’t worried about me ruining dinner again.

“Granny!” I yelled, really miffed.

“I’ll be back this evening, Pip. Just keep the stove set to low while you fry that chicken, and follow the instructions for the fricassee,” she called from the living room to the sound of the front door creaking open.

I blew a raspberry as the front door closed with a thud. My hand plopped down on the plump poultry with a smacking sound.

“Old rooster, huh? I’ll show her,” I muttered and went back to the recipe card.

***

Special thanks to Suzanne at A Pug in the Kitchen for suggesting chicken fricassee as Pip’s cooking assignment.

As a little bonus treat, here’s more on chicken fricassee. This one has a Cajun slant. Happy Chinese New Year!

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Terrific Teagan.. I am behind this week with finishing off my project.. I am a dragon.. some have said appropriately.. Happy Chinese New Year…I hope that it brings you much happiness and success… love and hugs xx

Thank you kindly Sally. LOL, Once during a high-hurry project I hung a sign outside my cubicle (back in New Mexico) that used the old mapmaker’s warning “Beyond this point there be dragons,” meaning of course — me. 😀 Sadly i am not a dragon. Have a thriving Thursday. Mega hugs!

Happy Chinese New Year Teagan. I hope the year of the fire rooster brings you every thing you wish for . I enjoyed watching the video on chicken fricassee. I have to try making the roux for the chicken fricassee.

Great post and I will leave the writing to the writers…I think I’ll just stick to my art…..but can’t leave the post without saying…the minute I saw the post…Madonna started singing in my ear….strike a pose….Vogue….vogue…vogue….:)

Haha. Thanks for the sound track, Kirt. The Vogue magazines of the 20s and 30s had some beautiful art on the covers.
Well, your photo art is certainly lovely, so no complaints from me. That house in New Orleans (with the effect and yellow tones) keeps coming back to my imagination. If I didn’t already have so many stories unfinished, I would definitely have to write one with that piece as inspiration.
Have a wonderful week. Mega hugs.

The little girl and the old white Leghorn were quite close. She lived in an area with no nearby children; her constant companions were her rooster, things that crawled, flew, or wriggled past her wide-eyed gaze. All were a part of her small but intimate world known as “The Yard”, filled with towering lilacs, peonies, green grass and dandelions. The swing allowed her to know what it must be like to be a bird, to know what the rooster knew when he flew, up off the ground. The freedom of flight was exhilarating! Time, however, destroys all such worlds belonging to children and their companions. The pages of the calendar turn; the slow, heavy tread of coming months and years are heard in the wind as it moves through the long grass; the days disappearing in fiery brilliance. Only the ashes, and the wind, remain.

Oh Lavinia, that was beautiful! Thank you so much for coming out to play! You could almost have been talking about me, except it was a towering white pine, and forsythia rather than lilacs.

I had a white rooster. I thought he was cool. But they said he had gotten mean.
They took him to my Granny. I got to visit him on Sundays for a few weeks of the calendar.
Then one Sunday dinner, in the middle of the meal I realized I didn’t see him when we came up…. That’s right. I was supposed to know that my caring family would expect me to realize who was in the chicken and dressing.
They waited expectantly for me to burst into tears, some kind of strange anticipation in their eyes. But there was no fire in me. Even so I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. I complimented Granny’s cooking.
Their expressions were a strange mix of surprise edged with disappointment.
Sadly not a story. I like yours much, much better. 😀
Sorry — that has been waiting to come out since the first cooked cockerel.
Huge hugs to you and all the cats of Salmon Brook Farm. ❤

Oh no… I’m so glad you had the wonderful photo of you with him. I shouldn’t vent such things. It seems I repeatedly break the promise I made to myself to keep this blog free of personal, work, and political woes. But thank you for your kind words. Here’s to a better day. Happy weekend hugs. 😀

I just looked at a calendar, is it really true, is Pancake Tuesday really not until Feb 28, 2017, the last day of February? I was looking forward to firing up the grill and making pancakes and you know what tastes delicious with pancakes (and waffles and well anything), chicken, which is kind of like a rooster, right? Clearly I can’t get myself past wanting, no, craving pancakes to write something that isn’t syrupy sweet. OK, I’m done. This is why you’re the best at the Three Things, dear Teagan, you really are a wonder. 🙂 Thank you, for everything.
Mega I was up again at dawn even before a rooster hugs xoxoxo

Donna, I’m delighted that you felt “fiery” enough to visit again today. Thank you. And no offense to the beautiful things that answered this challenge, but I think I would have cried if anyone else cooked the rooster. I think he’s been cooked three times now. 😀 So I’m very happy that pancakes got into your mind! I actually did see something about a blueberry pancake day over the weekend… Yes, here it is. I see no harm in celebrating it a little late. https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/blueberry-pancake-day/ Erm… Now I’m really hungry. Huge blueberry hugs!

The chicken fricassee had my salivary glands doing a happy dance. Here’s mine –
Molly looked at the calendar nailed into the wall of the sod house for the umpteenth time that morning. It was her birthday, but no one seemed to have remembered and there was no excitement in the day. Just then she heard her five year old son yelling outside. “Fire, Mom, fire!”
Grabbing her shawl, she ran out the wooden door her husband had just installed in anticipation of their first winter. “Where, Jacob? Where?”
Jacob reached her side and pointed up. “There!”
Molly laughed. Their rooster was perched on the roof and the sun had caught his red tail feathers.

First of all that Chicken Fricassee look fabulous…got my mouth watering:) ‘Yesterday as I approached Trafalgar Square, I saw what looked like a fire – and then I realised that it was cut out flames attached to a huge kite in the sky….As I got closer, the first thing I saw was not just one Rooster, but hundreds of them…..not real but made of gold and red paint……then I checked my calendar and realised it was Chinese New year celebrations in Trafalgar Square…and so I joined in with the procession…..so much fun:)’
Let’s hope the year doesn’t bring too many hefty challenges with it.!…..I keep reminding myself that ‘none of us is ever creative enough to know how things will actually work out…… Hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend…janet. xxx

Oh that was delightful, Janet. So visual — my mind is still filled with red and gold painted flames and kites!
I’m afraid the Fire Rooster has been actively scratching up challenges and throwing them into my face. I repeatedly remind myself that they are small matters in the scheme of things. But that thinking doesn’t help until i’m exhausted from stress… Like they say, “it’s all good!” (Just car repair stuff. They always tear something up every time they fix something. And the continued lack of parking problem… I know those are small things.)
Of course there are much, much larger national worries, that I try to put aside — else I’d be digging a giant hole at my back door for an air raid shelter. LOL.
Yes, I’ll let gloriously colored kites and cockerels and hummingbirds illuminate my imagination in stead. Mega hugs!

I will be sending the most colourful, magical hummingbirds that my imagination can drum up – in your direction…I think the whole world needs magic at this moment in time…..We who believe in such things but hold together… Sending huge hugs….Janet. xxx

I feel so fortunate to have such good friends as part of my life…..virtual and in reality:) Hugs to you and may the hummingbirds encircle you this day. I am quite sure in DC at this moment, their influence and magic is very necessary:)

The fire was stoked. Little imps of flame danced upward anxious to grow up too soon. I sat in the chair and waited for the ice in my bones to thaw and watched the fire dance. Smiling to myself I glanced up and saw the calendar that had been a Christmas present from my daughter. The images of my grandchildren reflected in my glasses.
I rose from my seat and walked to where it hung on the wall. A pen on a piece of old string hung beside it. I used it to mark off another X. Only forty days remaining until they arrived for their holiday. What would the grandchildren think of island life? I chuckled as I imagined them chasing the hens around the field and the old rooster, chasing them.
Alerted by a familiar noise I turned around.
“Monty,” I said. “Have you come for your breakfast?” I knew the answer but the old rooster cocked his head to one side and acknowledged the question.
Picking him up and brushing his aged feathers I carried him through to the kitchen.
“Oh the children are going to love you,” I said.

My brain is not functioning right now, dear friend, but I will try to return later and do the three things exercise, but you have inspired me into craving Chinese food. 😉
Thanks for the smiles, Teagan, I need them right now. 🙂
Mega firey delight hugs xoxox

Dear Donna, if I’ve given you a smile, my day is made. 🙂 Chinese food is always good.
I take it the Fire Rooster has already brought you the challenges everyone was predicting. I know it started tossing them to me before it was good and hatched.
Sending you good thoughts, my friend — Light and hugs.

Oh no, I’m a rabbit! Yet nothing they say about me is right… I like odd numbers; not even. I’ve done quite well at work and don’t need to rely on family… It’s like looking in the dark while wriggling one’s nose. I much prefer celery with peanut butter to a boring carrot. Either I’m a very odd rabbit, or the zodiac soothsayers are hopping mad!

A writing challenge! I’m in the midst of intense editing, so I’m begging off. But I enjoyed Pip’s cooking challenge. Her relationship with granny is adorable. Thanks for the fire rooster info too. Though I’m not a fire rooster, I hope it’s a good year for all of us. Lovely images. **Hugs**

This was a fun read, Teagan. I am always amazed by your three things things. Of course, now I am hungre for fried chicken and for Chinese food. It was nice to find this in my inbox on Saturday morning – thanks!

Oops! Sorry about the hungries, Dan. Now that you mention it… I’m suddenly starved. But I just had more drama with my car, and that tends to give a yen for comfort food!
Maybe some sesame chicken if you’re hankering for both. 😀 Thanks very much for taking time to read and comment. Mega hugs.

Oh my, oh my. Where are the crafty and talented bloggers when you need them? So many calendars posted, so many posts about the New Year, I can’t find a Rooster Year calendar anywhere! They’ll cook me in a slow fire if I can’t get one for the Chinese themed party tomorrow!
It seems I’m a metal snake… It sounds like a sci-fi movie. 😉

Hi Olga! Well, I’ve seen that “gold” is often substituted for “metal” if that sounds better. LOL, but it still sounds like a sci-fi movie! 😀 However, either sounds better than “earth pig.”
More drama with my car today. They were right about the Fire Rooster bringing challenges.
Loved your 3 things! Huge hugs.

Great post Teagan. Although I knew about the Chinese elements from Tai Chi, I didn’t know they were related to Astrology in that way. That, and an episode with Pip is always worth stopping what I do and enjoy a breeze of Teagan.
Happy Weekend ❤

Well played ‘Pip’ you got the words in nicely. I decided to have a look and see what I drew for my birth year and I fell inside the Year of the Tiger with metal as the element. Just a little later and I’d have been a rabbit. I think I got lucky.
xxx Massive Hugs Teagan xxx

Well, I know that *we* got lucky when you were born, David. Ha… I was so offended at being born in a year of the pig that I had not thought to look up the element for my year… And of course now I see that not only was I a pig, but a dirty pig (earth). I still like bacon though! Mega hugs.

It’s the everyday things that give a small, Southern town its fire. Growing up in Panther Burn, Arkansas, I didn’t have to look beyond my hometown’s own name. In the center of town, halfway down Main Street, was Big John’s Diner. After church at Holy Innocents, if we were God-fearing, my parents would take my brother, Rooster, and me to Sunday dinner. From our adolescent view, Big John’s was the pinnacle of urban grandeur. We’d strut through the glass door in our matching bow-ties, a string of aluminum balls tinkling like sleigh bells announcing our entrance. Mary Jayne would smile when she’d see us. She’d be standing behind the beige Formica counter in her half apron, her rubber soled shoes squeaking upon the worn, linoleum floor. In pride of place, on the wall over the griddle, the Farmer’s Almanac Calendar was hung from a single nail. At the start of the year, it was crisp and bright, but by June it was frayed, its edges rolled from the incessant steam of frying hash browns and onions.

I waa ready to turn off my computer and fire up an episode of This is Us but I saw your post. “Wait,” I whispered. I have to see what Teagan has written. Come to find out she has wished me a Happy New year which is the year of the Fire Rooster in China. Not being a totally without manners is is only fair to wish her a happy New Year as well. I pulled up mu calendar and tried to look up next new year’s animal only to discover none is listed. I suppose I should get a Chinese calendar for this purpose. Happy New Year Teagan. Hugs.

Haha! Well done, John. I don’t know what Chinese Zodiac animal to expect from year to year either. After I learned I was born in a year of the pig, I was offended and stopped trying to find out. 😉 So I wait for it to surprise me. But wait — you know I can’t resist anything that prompts me to Google… Looks like 2018 is the year of the dog. Tell Lucy to get ready to party! Mega hugs.